SPORT IN BRITAIN

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4264, 26 May 1936, Page 2

SPORT IN BRITAIN

March 26. THE OLYMPIC GAMES. Two attempts have been made during the past week to bring about Great Britain’s abstention from the Olympic Games. One was foredoomed to failure. It was a suggestion to the Chancellor of the Exchequer that something should be done to prevent good English money being taken into Germany by the visitors to the Games when it was well known that it would later be used for building up German armaments. As expected, the Chancellor replied that he 1 was powerless to interfere. The other i and more serious attempt was made at the annual general meeting of the Amateur Athletic Association. Here there was a definite proposal that Britain l should absent herself from the Games. | The case was well put by the represenI tative of the Workers’ Sports Association. and his speech was backed up by another from his father, a well-known trades union official. The burden of 1 their plaint was that Germany had out- | raged the canons of sportsmanship, and I that by consenting to send a team to 1 Berlin we were condoning the offence. , As one listened, however, he gained the impression that it was the political rather than the sporting sentiments of the speakers that had been outraged. The matter was debated at very great length, and the ultimate decision to take no action for two months was a very wise one, in view of the difficult negotiations in which His Majesty's Government was at the moment engaged. ATHLETICS. Those who were present at the indoor championships last Saturday evening and were able to draw upon their experience of such meetings in America, had to admit that we have still some distance to go before we reach the standard set up in the United States. Opinions were divided as to whether the matting stretched on boards was an improvement on last year’s wooden track. Some of the competitors said the matting moved under the pressure of their feet. Certainly running a 600 yds race on an unbanked track of 162 yds was not a success. The man lucky enough to get inside berth early in the race was almost certain to keep it. Apart from the fact that some of the women, notably Miss Eileen Hiscock, ran extremely well, the features of interest were the tremendously close finish between C. B. Holmes, Manchester University, A. Pennington, Oxford University, and K. S. Duncan, the old Oxford Blue, in the 70yds championship. and the unexpected defeat of R. L. Howland by L. Reavell Carter in the weight. Howland was a long way below the form he showed in South Africa last autumn, but he* was obviously carrying a lot of superfluous flesh, and will do very much better later on. BILLIARDS. Congratulations to Melbourne Inman on coming-out top in the Gold Cup handicap." It was a complete surprise, though, of course, the fact that he had 9,000 start from the champion, Joe Davis, was the chief factor in the veteran’s success. Nobody expected such a liberal allowance —it meant more than half the game when Inman was playing Davis—and in spite of his years was in excess of what a man who not long ago was a serious contender for the championship could have anticipated. BOXING. They arc all after Petersen and his British championship. Next Thursday the Welshman, Tommy Farr (who, it will be remembered, carried Tommy Loughran’s scalp at bis belt) meets the American Bob Olin at the Albert Hall. It is almost certain that if Farr wins he will lie matched against the winner of the Petersen-M‘Avoy fight on April 23. (Petersen beat M’Avoy.) If it were Petersen v. Farr one can imagine the excitement that would be aroused in Wild Wales, for both men are natives of that country. As to the result it would be no foregone conclusion for the reigning champion, for while Farr cannot compare with Petersen for boxing skill ho is such a hard tearaway lighter that his rugged methods might well give him a victory. CRICKET. If Australians who have been watching cricket since the early days of this century were asked the name of the finest English bowler to visit their country the great majority would plump for Sidney Barnes. There is no need to recapitulate the notable deeds by which he helped to bring the ashes back to England in that memorable win of a quarter of a century ago. His Australian admirers will be interested to know that Barnes, who will be 63 years of age next month is still going strong, and has again been re-engaged as a professional to a Birmingham League side. Playing for the club last season he had the best bowling average of any player in the league—7s wickets at less than nine runs apiece. One wonders what Barnes thinks of some of the young players who get chosen to represent their county and their country nowadays. Not much probably. SOCCER. John M'Kcnna, president of the Football league, and vice-president of the Football Association is dead at the ripe old age of 80. His connection with the game stretched far back to the days before the Liverpool Club was formed from a split in the ranks of Everton. His position as League president since 1910 gave him tremendous power. There have been times during the past quarter of a century when the League has not seen eye to eye with certain of the Football Association and hotheads' have counselled a breakaway, ft was at times like these that Mr M'Kcnna’s cool head helped to smooth the difficult path and keep the two bodies in harmonious joint centre of the pastime. The dream of the first all-London cup final since the days when there were only amateur clubs in the competition is over. Fulham is not to meet Arsenal at Wembley It fought gallantly against Sheffield United at Wolverhampton but it was one of those days when the ball ran much more kindly for one side than the other and Fulham’s midfield superiority could not prevent it losing by the odd goal of three. Grimsby did finely against Arsenal in the first half of its game at Huddersfield, but could not prevent the Highbury team scoring. After the interval Arsenal was clearly the better side, i

though it failed to score again. It will be Arsenal’s fourth appearance in the cup final. It has beaten Huddersfield and lost to Cardiff City and Newcastle United. Sheffield United has made five previous appearances winning, the cup at the expense of Derby •County, Southampton, Chelsea, and Cardiff City and losing once, to Tottenham Hotspur. (Arsenal won the cup final.) Probables v. Possibles was a misnomer for the trial match played at Manchester yesterday. » Few of the Probables are likely to be considered for the all-important match at Wembly on April 4 with Scotland, and the circumstances will have to be very exceptional for any of the Possibles to find places. Nevertheless, the Football Association is to be commended on giving untried talent a chance of showing its worth in a game of representativecharacter. The result, a win for the Probables by three goals to nil mattered nothing. Until the high priced “ stars ” of Aston Villa can evolve a plan of playing as a team, the famous old club must continue to struggle to avoid going down to the second division. Last Saturday it was the worse of two bad teams at Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea won by the only goal of the match. Their companions in distress, Blackburn Rovers, scarcely did better in drawing with Middlesbrough at Blackburn, while both last year’s cup finalists, West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield Wednesday, are well in the danger zone. With Sheffield United otherwise engaged, West Ham, bv convincingly beating Newcastle, took the lead in the second division. There are, however, still at least five other sides, especially Manchester United and Charlton (who suffered a reverse at Norwich) cherishing hopes of reaching the highest circle. RUGBY. A well-known authority on Rugby has been advising the English fifteen to get some goal-kicking practice before the players put away their boots for the summer. They certainly need it. All through the season our international side has sacrificed points by its poor attempts at dropped and placed goals. It should take heed to K. C. Fyfe, who kicked two glorious goals (one penalty, one place) at Twickenham, and so reduced England’s victorious margin to one point. On the chances they had in the second half, when there was no scoring the Southrons should have won much more handsomely than by 9 points to 8. The game will scarcely rank as a classic. Very few games do nowadays, thanks to the spoiling tactics which have been adopted by all national sides. By this success England just avoided finishing at the foot of the home counties’ international table—a far different State of affairs when her fifteen thrashed the New Zealanders early in January. We are practically at the close of the season (St. Mary’s again won the Hospitals Cup yesterday), and, taking it on the whole, one can regard it as an interesting, if not exactly distinguished, one. A season that has the All Blacks as visitors to our shores can never be without interest. GOLF. What early in the term which has just closed looked like being an extremely close contest in the university golf match resulted in a veritable rout for Oxford. The foursomes played in the first afternoon left the Cantabs with a lead of four matches to one, and they went on to rub it in on the next day by winning eight matches to two m the singles, thus equalling the record victories of Oxford in 1921 and 1930. The Dark Blues had their consolations. Their two successful golfers were Kenneth Scott and J. M. Baillieu. The former, to the surprise of everyone, defeated the Cambridge captain, J. S. L. Lyon, by 7 and 5. Baillieu the stalwart athletic “ blue ” (he lias represented Oxford at sprinting and the weight), hit tremendously hard in overcoming H. A. Pope by 7 and 6. By far the finest golf of the day was played fey the 20-year-old South African, C. de G. Watermeyer, who came into the Cambridge team last term. His first round was 08, which equals Archie Compston’s record for the Hoylake course. Small wonder that he beat 11. G. de Quincey, who played by no means badly, by 10 and 9. In direct contrast was the poor form by P. B. Lucas. The left-hander’s driving was simply awful. Yet his approach shots were sufficiently good to enable him to boat the leading Oxonian, A. A. Duncan, by 2 and 1. RACING. Superlatives are overworked in sport, but the word sensational can justly be applied to the happenings in the first big race of the season. So many horses were fanceid for the Lincolnshire that spectators thronged the Carholme expecting a desperate race. Unhappily a bad spill two furlongs from home robbed the race of much interest. Tom Bowling fell and broke his neck. Screamer and Bow and Arrow were also brought down, and others seriously interfered with. In spite of it all we saw a thrilling finish, for Overcoat, beautifully ridden by Weston, robbed Boethius of first honours by a head, with Mistral third and the favourite, Sea Bequest, fifth. Overcoat, who finished fourth a year ago, owed his success to his fitness. During the spell of hard weather his trainer kept him well at work on the sands of the Lincolnshire coast.